Jason Aldean is a young, earring-wearing hat act who plays the Nashville game the way it’s always been played — order up 12 or so songs from the best songwriters money can buy and sing the hell out of them. But he leans on guitar instead of fiddle or pedal steel and his second CD, which is loaded with better-than-average material, could almost be seen as a Southern-rock record. On the terrific single, “Johnny Cash,” he flips off the boss and heads out to get his girl in the first 30 seconds. The title track has an engaging modern-rock feel, and “Back in This Cigarette” is just cool. There are some clunkers (his debut had better ballads), and though Relentless is almost certain to fly under the radar of the national music press, it will reward anyone who seeks it out.

Dave Howard rolls on For as long as we’ve known him, Dave Howard and his band the High Rollers have been exploring the fertile turf linking the blues and R&B, with forays into rock and roll.

The week in boners With his new album expected to hit #1 on the Billboard charts this week, I think (Nasty) Nas is getting a bit swell-headed.

Lowe life Nick Lowe is a rare creature, a punk rock founding father who has endured and evolved gracefully.

Brad Paisley Paisley’s winsome 5th Gear is about as light as Miranda Lambert’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is dark — in a good way.

Blaine Larson By the ripe old age of 20, Blaine Larsen had graduated from his Tacoma (Washington) high school and released two full-length country albums.

Music Seen: Neko Case + Haru Bangs First things first: Neko Case is the complete package, an unmitigated bombshell (gorgeous, wry, self-effacing) with a singular artistic vision (country/folk songs so heavy on metaphor and animistic and obscure mythological references that you could — and should — unpack them for months) and a voice like an air-raid siren.